Pia Mancini's TED Talk: Upgrading Our Democracy For The Internet Age

Improved Essays
“The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter,” said Abraham Lincoln in a speech on May 19, 1856 in Illinois. However, with a world that is vastly more connected than the world in 1856, we can digitally connect the American public with those politicians who represent them in hopes to create a more informed American citizen. With this increased connectivity, we need to have a conversation about the proper uses of technologies, including the time and the place for proper use of our beloved devices. In addition to upgrading our democracy for the Internet Age, as Pia Mancini advocates, we need to redefine our ideas of public and common space as well as public engagement overall to include the new etiquettes and realities of the Internet Age. In Pia Mancini’s TED talk “Upgrading Our Democracy for the Internet Age” she questions our continued use of old and out dated methods for democracy. Mancini searches for ways to create a democracy that incorporates …show more content…
Public space in the context of this argument can best be defined as a place, area, or space where anyone can self-elect to be in or apart of for example a park, the highway, or in the wilderness. Now in contrast to public space, private space is an area where one or two people have access to and are free to express themselves in any way they feel appropriate for example one’s room, or even a dorm room. In between the privacy of private space and the open air of the public space is common space, which is an area where there are barriers to enter such as qualification, money, or membership for example a college class room, entering gyms, and sports team’s locker rooms. These are all important spheres to understand as they give us an understanding as to when and where we should be using our

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